January 2010
In this issue
 Innovation and determination place successful food safety certification in unlikely hands - the Amish. Read more ... |
- Wallace Center wins $900K for HUFED Center
- Community Food Enterprises Speak for Themselves Jan. 28 in D.C.
- Food Safety Update
- First Amish GAP certification offers national model
- Map of Local Distribution Examples Online
- Farm-to-College Presents Database
- Meet the Southwest Marketing Network and Farm to Table
- Meet NGFN Advisor and Sysco Project Lead Joe Colyn
- Recent Marketing News
- Add your profile to the NGFN Database
- NGFN Media Outlets
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Stories
Wallace Center wins $900K for HUFED Center
The USDA announced that the Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development (HUFED) Center will be housed at the Wallace Center at Winrock International. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture, the Center will provide grants to increase access to healthy affordable foods, including locally produced agricultural products, to underserved communities.
A part of the 2008 Farm Bill, the legislation was created to respond to the need to redevelop a food enterprise structure in the United States in order to make more healthy affordable food available in low-income areas, to increase access for small and mid-sized agricultural producers, and to promote positive economic activities generated from attracting healthy food enterprises into underserved communities. The Wallace HUFED Center applies market-based, business solutions to the problem of food access by providing technical and financial assistance to enterprising and innovative projects that directly address and resolve food access issues. With the announcement of the Grant Guidelines in early February, the Wallace HUFED Center will launch a competitive, fair and equitable grant process to support approximately 30 feasibility studies and/or food enterprise initiatives over the next 3 years.
For more information visit the Wallace Center website.
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Community Food Enterprises Speak for Themselves Jan. 28 in D.C.
The Wallace Center at Winrock International and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) present a pair of panels Jan. 28 in Washington D.C. on their newly released report "Community Food Enterprise: Local Success in a Global Marketplace." The Community Food Enterprise project, jointly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, profiles 24 locally owned food businesses in the U.S. and internationally, and examines the financial, social, and environmental performance of each enterprise.
The CFE event takes place at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW. The 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. morning panel features case studies from the United States. The afternoon panel, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., features international case studies. Both events are free and open to the public, and will feature a catered reception provided by Eat and Smile Foods, a DC-area catering company committed to fresh, locally sourced foods. Both morning and afternoon panels will also be broadcast, via webinar, if you would like to attend but cannot make it to the DC venue.
REGISTER FOR THE DC EVENT:
U.S. PANEL (9am – 11am) | INTERNATIONAL PANEL (2pm – 4pm)
REGISTER FOR THE ONLINE BROADCAST:
U.S. PANEL (9am – 11am) | INTERNATIONAL PANEL (2pm – 4pm)
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Food Safety Update
Each month, Steve Warshawer, food safety coordinator for the National Good Food Network, writes a regular column on the status of new and changing food safety regulations. A farmer and food distributor, Steve is focused on the challenge of developing food safety rules that work for food producers as well as food regulators.The food safety landscape on the national policy level is currently fairly quiet. Senate Bill 510 is still between committee approval and floor debate. We have no action yet on the proposed National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement initiative after the U.S. Department of Agriculture's closed its recent public comment period. (See the December 2009 food safety report for more on these topics.)
The Food and Drug Administration named Michael Taylor as deputy commissioner for foods. This Washington Post article examines the post and the controversial choice of Taylor, who is now in position to implement any new food safety laws that come out of Congress.
Beyond congressional and administrative action on food safety, the third component we're concerned with is the increasing demand on the part of food buyers for food safety certification on the farm. On a recent learning tour in northern New Mexico, near Santa Fe, a group of us from the National Good Food Network saw firsthand how some producers are able to move forward while others are not. This contrast underlines the need for alternative certification methods for smaller growers, including group certification approaches and combining sustainability certifications with food safety certification.
We visited one of two farms certified in New Mexico under USDA's Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) guidelines: Velarde Family Orchard, a 30-acre operation with 7,000 apple, peach, cherry, pear, and plum trees. The orchard pursued GAP certified in advance of buyer demand. Owners say they anticipate the demand coming, particularly related to the orchard's sales to area schools. Farm managers say GAP benefits the orchard operations in many ways. Employees buy in to the important aspects of food safety and help management implement the required food safety plan.
Yet those of us on the tour agreed that the program, as implemented at Velarde's orchard and packinghouse, would not be accessible to most other small orchard keepers. It seemed to us that GAP as implemented at Velarde was a very high bar, which might not be accessible, or even necessary, for many orchard keepers. More importantly, Velarde's implementation may go beyond what buyers of tree fruits really need.
This wide range of needs and approaches is the stuff under scrutiny in food safety negotiations from Congress, FDA, and USDA to industry-wide talks on harmonizing standards for more cost-effective and reasonable food-safety requirements. NGFN is participating, and I'll be back next month with more news.
For a good overview of terms and concepts in the world of food safety, see the NGFN food safety FAQ. And let us know about terms and concepts you'd like some help understanding. We'll post a definition or explanation. You can also contact Steve Warshawer directly at stevew@plateautel.net.
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First Amish GAP certification offers national model
Kansas City's Good Natured Family Farms knew it had some work to do. Last year two major buyers, Sysco and Chipotle, told leaders that produce growers among the roughly 150 farms that supply the cooperative would soon have to be certified under USDA's Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) guidelines.
Produce growers across the nation are suddenly facing this new buyer requirement as voluntary food safety guidelines turn into a market mandate. Good Natured Family Farms had a particular problem: as much as 30 percent of its $4 million in sales comes from Amish and Mennonite farms.
"It's the worst-case scenario," said Craig Watson, Sysco's vice-president for quality assurance and agricultural sustainability. "If Amish and Mennonite farms, with all of their obstacles, can get approved, it proves that, indeed, the obstacles to certification that many farms are concerned about are not insurmountable."
Amish and Mennonite families use horses for power and manure for fertilizer, which automatically puts food safety auditors on high E. coli alert. They also speak more German than English and do not use electricity or computers. The work of preparing a food safety plan and manual for their farms -- the main GAP certification product -- is, simply put, a challenge.
But Diana Endicott, Good Natured Family Farms manager, did not flinch. "We knew we had better do something."
She said her experience building a small-scale meat processing plant taught her that doing something is better than doing nothing when new and likely burdensome regulations are in the works. "If you don't embrace it and find a way to implement it, then when it's mandated you don't have any ground to stand on."
The cooperative's determination and team approach to certification resulted in a model that could help other Amish and Mennonite farms meet GAP requirements. Sysco, for example, is already working to duplicate the effort with Amish farms in Michigan.
The Good Natured Family Farms experience may also help build the case in industry-wide food safety negotiations for a more cost-effective group certification approach that could benefit smaller and medium-size farms.
It's an approach proven by the success of smaller farms in Europe with strict food safety auditing, said Steve Warshawer, food safety coordinator for the National Good Food Network. Under the Global GAP system, farm groups can pool their resources to invest in development and management of a food safety plan that each member follows. The group receives one certification and all are responsible for keeping their farms ready for inspection.
That's not a common practice yet in the United States, and could prove problematic in this country because farms tend to work more individually than collectively. But as a cooperative, Good Natured Family Farms took on the responsibility to get member farms certified, including the full cost of materials, training, and USDA auditing, which amounts to $1,000 per day of the audit.
With limited resources and time, Diana Endicott and colleague Otavio Silva, director of The Food Conservancy in Kansas City, chose in 2009 to tackle Amish and Mennonite farm certification first among all of those in the cooperative that need certification. And they started strategically with four key farms, one large and one small in each of the religious communities, as a way to prompt others to follow. In addition, one of the farmers also operates a produce packing plant, which received additional Good Handling Practices (GHP) certification.
"We downloaded GAP guidelines from the Internet. We took Cornell University's online course. And we got to work with the families studying the principles, developing plans, and putting it in their own words and (hand)writing," Endicott said.
Endicott and Silva invested time in making the process more approachable, like translating the bureaucratic "standard operating procedure" into the everyday term "task," for example, so families would take it and run with it.
"The families made it their own, and now they own it," Endicott said. Unique to Amish and Mennonite families, for example, is the extent to which children are involved in the farm. A task that one family identified was for older children to teach younger siblings about the farm's food safety rules. The children responded by making a coloring book to use for teaching their younger brothers and sisters.
It's not the typical situation for auditors, but the four Amish and Mennonite families passed with handwritten manuals and a range of practical approaches to making the plan work for the auditors, as well as for their farming lives.
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Map of Local Distribution Examples Online
As entrepreneurs respond to local food demand, the number of new examples and approaches to local and regional distribution also grows.
Now a map of the known universe of these distribution examples is available online. It's the work of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS). Nearly 60 different examples from coast to coast show up on the map. They come from a full spectrum of business types, including cooperatives, home delivery networks, produce auctions, and independent businesses.
Along with this map, CIAS recently published a report with in-depth case studies on 11 examples of local and regional distribution approaches. The report, called "Scaling Up: Meeting the Demand for Local Food," also discusses common challenges the firms face and approaches to overcoming them.
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Farm-to-College Presents Database
The National Farm to College program at the Community Food Security Coalition is a focal point for anyone looking for information about the trend of connecting farms directly with college dining services, how programs are developing, and resources for taking action. At its newly redesigned site, farmtocollege.org, you'll find profiles of 140 projects along with a signup option for any program not yet listed. Check it out! Or contact coordinator Kristen Markley at (570) 658-2265, kristen@foodsecurity.org with any questions.
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Meet the Southwest Marketing Network and Farm to Table
The Southwest Marketing Network and its parent organization Farm to Table are celebrating the results of targeted work to strengthen local food and farm connections over the last 18 months in the Four Corners states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.
The Southwest Marketing Network formed in 2002 to build marketing expertise and opportunities for farmers in the region. The group's recent emphasis on building more connections among Four Corners' food producers, food buyers, and supporting organizations came after the Southwest Marketing Network in 2008 became a regional lead team of the then-startup National Good Food Network.
"At our annual conference last April, we really focused on the Good Food network; that is, on what it looks like in our own region with diverse groups of service providers, as well as Native American communities, farmers, and ranchers," said director Pam Roy. "We came away with a broad view of all kinds of needs, desires, and activities, and we're using that as a lens for focusing in on the needs and assets of our region."
A major result of the conference was a set of new requests from Native American groups for the Southwest Marketing Network's help building their organizational capacity and connecting them with other Native American communities in the region, which are separated by large distances. One outcome was a team of people from different Native American communities traveling together last year to USDA's annual Risk Management Agency conference on production and marketing strategies for limited-resource producers.
Other key outcomes of the Southwest Marketing Network this past year include:
Working with the Coyote Canyon Rehabilitation Center to integrate families and community members into the gardening and greenhouse activities there, with long-term plans for marketing food produced at the Center.- Helping the Dine Ag organization become a 501(c)(3) so that it can draw resources directly to the work done in the local community.
- Navigating funding and financing opportunities with the Red Willow Farm Cooperative on the Navajo Nation. The cooperative needs a well so that the individual plot holders on the 1,000-acre farm can continue producing traditional foods. "It's extremely important because it's about their survival, subsistence, and their spiritual and communal needs," Roy said.
The last year of focused networking has also produced a long list of market initiatives for the Southwest Marketing Network and many partners. They are all in the realm of building values-based value chains -- food market supply chains that keep the producer, production practices, and the character and flavor of a region in the forefront all the way from farm to table. They also help local producers stay in business, and keep their communities sustainable through long-term, trusting relationships woven into the supply chain.
Projects now underway include:
- The New Mexico Beef Initiative, which involves a broad range of stakeholders looking into meat industry infrastructure and regulatory issues, as well as possible branding of New Mexico beef.
- A value-chain training workshop with a broad range of service providers in the region. The agencies and others involved in the workshop are taking the initiative to keep working together on value chain development.
- The new Farm to Restaurant project to build values-based value chains between Santa Fe restaurants and area producers. The work includes interviewing restaurants about their needs and a Food Expo in February that will bring farmers and restaurants together.
- A “B-grade” fruit study, in which Farm to Table and the La Montanita Cooperative investigated the market for processing B-grade fruit from area orchards into fresh and frozen products for restaurants and other buyers. One early result is a new pomegranate and apple juice sold through the La Montanita Co-op using local pomegranates that are often in excess supply because of a narrow seasonal marketing window.
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Meet NGFN Advisor and Sysco Project Lead Joe Colyn
Long before food service distributor Sysco started looking for local food in Michigan, Joe Colyn was knocking on the company's door trying to sell it. It's not surprising then that Colyn and Sysco are now working together on a daily basis. They're trying to open and build wholesale channels for local food as part of a two-year, market-testing partnership between Sysco and the National Good Food Network.
Colyn first approached Sysco some four years ago when he was working with farmers in western Michigan's Newago County who were exploring the idea of marketing their produce into local wholesale markets. His consulting business, Originz LLC, is focused on this emerging regional food system opportunity, specifically helping businesses find their way to profitability while delivering better products for people and the planet. Colyn comes to this work with a background of 18 years with the Kellogg Company and global experience in Latin America and Canada, including identity preserved grain programs.
Colyn believes Sysco's decision to share, rather than protect the knowledge it is gaining in the partnership, is a good thing for everyone in the market trying to build a healthier food system. The first year's case study is online now, and the story of the progress and learning in year two will be available in the spring of 2010.
As a preview, Colyn says the results of innovation and greater understanding on both the buyer and producer sides of the local wholesale equation are proving beneficial. Sales are growing as Sysco offers a greater variety of local foods and more information about where it's coming from and who produced it.
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Recent Marketing News
Supermarket Industry News reports that New England's Hannaford Supermarkets has become the first grocer in the country to introduce the “Keep Local Farms” initiative at all 171 of its stores. This dairy industry consumer education effort comes from the New England Dairy Promotion Board, along with the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council and the New England Family Dairy Farms Cooperative.
The commodity agriculture-led group Center for Food Integrity launches Farmers Feed US, a consumer education campaign offering a chance to win free groceries for a year. Through short online video farm tours, consumers learn how the farmers produce their food, while they also have the opportunity to register in a "Free Groceries for a Year" sweepstakes. The Kansas City, Mo. based program has enlisted farmers from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa to participate in the campaign.
The fast-casual restaurant UFood Grill replaces McDonald's at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas with "better-for-you" meals. Chairman George Naddaff says the next step for the company is to launch a powerful "better for you" campaign "targeting all major hospitals throughout America."- The New Jersey Food Council published its "Green Guidelines Playbook” for the state’s food distribution industry as part of a new campaign to “favorably impact the environment, enhance public education, benefit the communities in which we do business and create a model for other industries to emulate.”
National Geographic adds NGFN partner Food Alliance to its Green Guide for Everyday Living. Its Beef Label Decoder also
includes the American Grassfed, Certified Humane, Animal Welfare
Approved seals along with USDA organic and process verified seals.- KOL Foods, LLC sources and sells kosher, grass-fed, non-industrial, healthy lamb and beef and pastured poultry directly to individuals. KOL Foods is seeking a Sales and Operations Manager. For more details visit the KOL Foods site, and the job listing.
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Add your profile to the NGFN Database
Are you part of a food and farm initiative that more people should know about? Are you skilled or knowledgeable in an area of this work and ready to be part of it? Do you have some research to share? Then create your profile on ngfn.org to make sure your work shows up in the National Good Food Network's database of experts, organizations, and information. The database is just starting. Help it grow into the comprehensive clearinghouse we could all use!
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NGFN Media Outlets
The NGFN is dedicated to getting the best, most relevant information out to you in the most effective medium. Each third Thursday of the month we host an interactive webinar by the top experts on the hottest topics in scaling up good food. You can always view the archives of past webinars. You can also find us on Twitter and YouTube. And if you haven't signed up for our mailing list, sign up to keep up on the latest activity in the Network!
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